Thales provides e-POC demonstrator for French Navy

Defence company Thales has provided an expeditionary portable operations center (e-POC) demonstrator to meet the French Navy’s new requirement for a drone-based mine countermeasures capability.

The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) placed an order with Thales, via the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAr), for the provision of e-POC.

The system was developed in less than six months and was accepted by the DGA and OCCAr after completing sea trials and delivered to the French Navy.

The e-POC demonstrator enables naval forces to conduct mine countermeasures missions quickly and efficiently using only unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).

According to Thales, it will provide a flexible mission management capability from outside the zone of operations, helping to keep naval personnel out of harm’s way.

The e-POC demonstrator runs software developed for the M-Cube and MiMap systems on a single computer equipped with three control screens to plan, execute and analyze missions requiring the simultaneous deployment of up to three UUVs.

The system can be set up on board a ship or at a shore station and is small enough to fit into just six transport cases for deployment into the theatre of operations.

The transport cases are stowed inside the UUV container to streamline logistics and boost mission effectiveness.

“Thales has combined the power of innovation with the agility of its development teams to augment the defensive capabilities of the French Navy. The e-POC solution is designed for rapid deployment into any theatre of operations, making a valuable contribution to future mine countermeasures missions and helping to guarantee the safety of naval personnel,” Gwendoline Blandin-Roger, Vice-President Underwater Systems, Thales.